I built a safe house in the eerie night.

Jiang Ning took a deep breath; the cool air calmed his confused mind.

The altar was still operating, the sacred blood had not yet been extinguished, and it was impossible for the strange creature to directly break into the protected house.

The face on the roof is more like some kind of eerie illusion, designed to incite panic and make people make mistakes.

He cannot act rashly.

"Uncle Fu".

Jiang Ning lowered his voice and called out softly.

Hearing the sound, Wang Fu, who was by the bed, turned his head. His old face was full of vigilance, and his eyes were cloudy, but he still had human emotions and there was nothing unusual about them.

Seeing Jiang Ning's pale face, he asked in a low voice, "Young Master, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing..." Jiang Ning shook his head and didn't look at the roof again.

There was only dilapidated thatch there; the holes and the eerie, upside-down faces that had appeared before seemed to have never existed.

But he knew that it might not be an illusion; dangers lurked everywhere in this world, even capable of infiltrating your perception, so you had to always be on the edge of your seat.

In the latter half of the night, the eerie sounds did not stop; sometimes they were far away, and sometimes they seemed to be lingering outside the house, emitting mournful howls and whispers.

The entire village of Baiye was deathly silent, without lights or human voices, like a lonely tomb.

Jiang Ning leaned against the wall, his mind tense, until the thick, inky darkness outside the window gradually faded, seeping in fine gray-white.

The sky finally brightened.

The sticky scraping sounds and strange whispers outside the door disappeared as quickly as the tide receded.

Wang Fu stood up, his voice hoarse:

"Young Master, it's dawn."

Jiang Ning nodded, his heart filled with mixed emotions, and walked to the door, pulling open the wooden door that had withstood countless impacts the night before.

As dawn broke, a unique cool and damp air drifted through the mountains.

What greeted the eye was a scene of desolation: muddy paths, crooked fences, claw marks on the exterior walls of several houses, and patches of dried, foul-smelling grime.

The village is nestled against Changyin Mountain, with a dozen or so low mud-brick and thatched houses scattered sparsely, creating a desolate and abandoned atmosphere.

At this moment, more than thirty people, men, women, and children, were scattered in the open space outside the door. They were all thin and pale, dressed in rags, and their faces were marked by long-term malnutrition and fear.

Most of them remained silent, looking at the garrison commander of Jiangning with tired, numb, yet hopeful eyes.

From behind the crowd, the faint sound of a child's suppressed sobs could be heard, which was quickly covered up by adults.

This scene made Jiang Ning feel suffocated.

He looked away and gazed at the center of the village.

The bluish-gray stone altar stood silently. The "holy blood" on the top of the altar, which should have emitted a faint glow, was pitifully dim at this moment, with only a tiny, dim light flickering uncertainly in the morning breeze, as if it might be completely extinguished at any moment.

The villagers obviously found out as well.

They were originally unregistered migrants outside Danhua City. In order to gain the right to live in the city, they voluntarily, or rather, were forced, to come to the dangerous depths of Changyin Mountain to harvest "Tai Sui" for the adults in the city.

The contract is for three years.

This group of people has endured two and a half years. With only six months left, they will be able to leave this nightmarish mountain wilderness and move into Danhua City, which is protected by high city walls and a more stable altar.

But now, everything has changed.

The holy blood is about to run out, and the altar will soon be extinguished.

The only mountain path to leave was blocked by a mysteriously appearing thick fog when the original owner, Jiang Ning, tried to explore it yesterday.

The original owner had risked getting close, but was infected by the escaping eerie aura. He barely managed to escape back to the village before dying, which led to Jiang Ning's transmigration.

Dead end...

Jiang Ning could clearly feel the despair spreading in the air.

The villagers looked at him not only as a town garrison commander, but also as a lifeline that might not even exist.

He clenched his fist, but felt utterly powerless.

He himself had just arrived, his memories were confused, his power was weak, and he only had a superficial understanding of this strange world.

What can it do?

But looking into those eyes that had almost lost their luster, Jiang Ning finally spoke in a low, hoarse voice:

"Everyone, I have managed to send the message out of the mountains. The city will soon send reinforcements with new holy blood to maintain the altar. There is no need for you to worry too much."

He tried to make his voice sound calm as his gaze swept over the numb faces.

"I will stay here and work with everyone until reinforcements arrive."

The villagers looked at each other, a brief flicker of emotion in their eyes, but it quickly subsided.

They remembered that this young master Jiang, who had only been there for a few days, was different from the previous town wardens who often beat and scolded them and treated them like dirt. Although this young master also had the pride of a city dweller and often complained about the hardships of the mountains and fields, he did not deliberately make things difficult for them.

However, his calm and responsible words were quite different from their previous impressions, which surprised them.

No one spoke.

Their long-standing humility has become ingrained in their very being, making them afraid to question those in power.

The eerie is a colossal nightmare, and the city's gentry are no exception; it is an existence they cannot resist.

They are just ants, silently enduring their fate.

Wang Fu stood to the side and behind Jiang Ning, his eyes also showing some surprise.

He stepped forward and took over the conversation; his aged voice was even hoarser than Jiang Ning's, yet it possessed a comforting power:

"Young Master is right. Everyone, please don't worry. The altar can hold out for a while longer. The reinforcements from the city won't arrive anytime soon. I'll go to the nearby Qingniu Village today to see if we can borrow some money temporarily. We'll get through this difficult time eventually."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the villagers' tired faces.

"There's quite a bit of Tai Sui left in the village, so everyone can take a short rest these next few days to recover their strength."

The crowd remained silent, but the tense atmosphere seemed to have eased slightly.

They looked at each other, but no one spoke. They simply turned away silently, dispersed, and returned to their dilapidated houses, squatting or sitting, still in a deathly silence of waiting.

After the crowd dispersed, Jiang Ning asked Wang Fu in a low voice.

"Uncle Fu, is it really possible to borrow holy blood from Qingniu Village?"

Wang Fu shook his head, "Not necessarily, but we should give it a try. Young master, you should rest in the village first. I'll be right back."

"I'll go with you," Jiang Ning insisted. He couldn't just sit and wait.

Wang Fu glanced at him and didn't object anymore.

The two walked out of the village one after the other.

But as soon as Jiang Ning stepped into the misty, withered forest outside the village, a chilling aura enveloped him.

He felt a chill that penetrated to his bones, and his head was spinning. The strange infection that remained in his body was triggered, and he could barely stand. He could only lean against the withered tree and gasp for breath.

"Young Master!" Wang Fu quickly stepped forward to help him up. "The yin energy in the mountains is too heavy; you should go back to the village!"

Jiang Ning gritted his teeth and tried to mobilize the last bit of energy in his body to resist, but it was in vain.

"All right......"

Jiang Ning struggled to speak, and then, with Wang Fu's help, retreated back into the faint warmth remaining at the village entrance barrier.

Watching Wang Fu walk alone down the mountain path, carrying a gray cloth bundle and walking with a somewhat unsteady gait, Jiang Ning felt a tightness in his chest.

Memories surged back. In the indifferent Jiang family, the ones who had accompanied and cared for him since childhood were not his parents, who only cared about their own interests, but rather a taciturn old servant with a slightly hunched back.

Wang Fu had been with his father for over twenty years, but was only assigned to his side after his birth. Rather than being a servant, he was Wang Fu's only support in this cold-blooded family.

Even now, he is still an old man, dragging his frail body, heading into the perilous mountains for a glimmer of hope.

Jiang Ning leaned against a wooden stake at the village entrance, watching Wang Fu's figure disappear into the mist. Feeling a tightness in his chest, he stood up and slowly walked around the village.

Several villagers were silently cleaning up the mess from last night, their movements slow and their faces expressionless.

In the corner, several emaciated children huddled together, their eyes fixed on him, their gazes blank and empty, devoid of the light that children should have.

These are the refugees. Once they enter Changyin Mountain, the protection of the altar is already barely enough. The smoke from people lighting fires or burning incense will attract even more strange things. So they can only eat raw Tai Sui, which barely fills their stomachs but is bland, fishy, ​​tough, and difficult to digest.

Day after day, people become like this.

"S-Sir."

The faint voice interrupted Jiang Ning's thoughts.

A dark-skinned, thin boy shrank back a few steps to him, head down, not daring to look at him.

"Speak." Jiang Ning stopped in his tracks.

"There's...something rotten behind the village," the boy said, his voice trembling.

Jiang Ning's eyes narrowed slightly: "Take me there."

Following the boy around to the back of the village, Jiang Ning saw the "thing" beside a shallow ditch.

A pool of nearly rotten flesh lay on the ground, emitting a foul stench.

He immediately recognized that this was a gray Tai Sui that had transformed from a corpse after a strange death. Unlike the black Tai Sui that grows naturally in the mountains and forests, this kind of Tai Sui only had a negative aura, and ordinary people would feel uncomfortable if they came into contact with it for a long time.

At that very moment, a phantom panel suddenly appeared before Jiang Ning's eyes, displaying clear text:

[Resource "Grey Tai Sui" detected; "Heavenly Craftsman" interface opened]

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[Current Territory: Changyin Mountain, Baiye Village (based on the actual area covered by the altar) (Detailed building information can be viewed)]

[Warehouse Resources: Black Tai Sui (1000 jin), Yin Wood (23 pieces)]

[Note: Within your territory, you can consume warehouse resources to construct and upgrade buildings to resist the strange invasion.]

[Currently available buildings: None]

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